At the start of each half-century of these notes, it is customary to say a little bit about what the notes are all about. The title line advertises Germanna Colonies . Germanna itself is a specific place in Virginia. The easiest way to locate it is to find where Virginia State Route 3 crosses the Rapidan River. Look for the road from Fredericksburg to Culpeper, and about halfway between the two towns is the Rapidan River. Probably you can discern two horseshoe-like loops in the river. The downstream one encircled Fort Germanna, which later became the first County Seat of Spotsylvania County.
The name, Germanna, came from Lt. Gov. Spotswood, who recognized Queen Anne, and the Germans who were the first inhabitants of the site. The association of Germanna with the Germans is relatively minor. The first group of forty-two Germans lived there about four and one-half years, until the end of December of 1718. Another group of about eighty Germans was nearby, up the Rapidan River, on the "north" side. They were acquainted with the area as they went to church for about a year at Germanna, and they were in the court at Germanna when the "town" was the county seat.
So, with this minor association of the Germans with Germanna, do we continue to refer to the Germanna Colonies? Especially, since several hundred Germans, usually closely related, came to the broad area to the west and north of Germanna eventually, and most of these were never at Germanna.
We use the name Germanna as a shorthand notation for a large region, even though the area bounded by Germanna was only a couple of square miles. It suggests itself, because Germanna is the area where the first Germans were first located, even though they left before five years was up. As these notes have demonstrated, the Germans throughout the region were related. By the use of the modern day Counties, some of the first Germans living at Germanna were to go on to live in Fauquier County, Culpeper County, and in Madison County. To these three counties, it is usually customary to add Rappahannock County, where more of the Germans were living.
The topics discussed in these notes goes beyond these four Counties, because many of the Germans lived in other areas before becoming associated with these Virginia Counties. Also, the story of the Germanna Colonies is carried back to Germany, and out to new territories. Thus, the appeal may be broader than the narrowest definition of Germanna would indicate. As the principal author of these notes, I have favored a liberal interpretation of the field of interest.
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.